Lisa Boncler is treated for a cut on the side of her head at Texas Emergency Care in Humble, Texas. 'I've been here before,' she said of the facility. 'It's always fast.'

Written by

Phil Galewitz
| Kaiser Health News

When Lisa Boncler gashed the side of her head on the gate to her front yard, she immediately called her neighbor for a ride to the emergency room.

In this fast-growing Houston suburb, six ERs are just a short drive away. She chose Texas Emergency Care Center, a facility that feels like a Western lodge with its earth-toned brick walls, leather chairs and coffee bar. The eight-bed ER that opened last year has almost everything - except, that is, an attached hospital.

"This is so convenient," says a smiling Boncler, 40, as a doctor prepared to close her wound with medical staples less than an hour ...